Full Moons and Diplomats
by Kyoui-chan
Summary: Diplomatic relations may be hard to maintain when one is in heat. Gaara's visit to Konoha has the worst timing possible. Or the best. [NaruGaa. Twoshot.]
1. Chapter 1

Full Moons and Diplomats

**Summary:** Diplomatic relations may be hard to maintain when one is in heat. (Why is it always Kyuubi in heat? That's right. Shukaku in heat. NaruGaa)

**Warning**: This is yaoi. Male on male. There will be graphic sex between two males. Don't like, skitter now. Ta.

Also, I screwed with the timeline. Wrote this before I'd seen Shippuuden. Oops. Hehe. I like it this way, though. So... consider it slightly AU if you wish.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Suing won't get you anything. Yet. I don't even own the Akatsuki cloak I'm planning to get yet.

**Spellcheck of the Day: **Kankurou: Cancer

o.O.o.0.o.O.o.0.o.O.o

When Gaara's siblings looked at him, they saw a killer. Fierce, bloodthirsty, emotionless. Well, not exactly emotionless. But crazy, insane, riddled with madness. The Shukaku eating away at something inside him, taking away whatever he could have been and making him what he _was_.

They saw Shukaku as violence, insanity, sand steeped in blood that crushed people and absorbed more blood. They saw it as the black rings around Gaara's eyes, the way he was up at all hours of the night.

Sometimes Gaara saw this too, and he agreed with them. Shukaku was the thing that ate away at his mind until he readily believed that _sand_ was his mother; the thing that caused everyone to run from him and left him a broken child who believed- no, _knew_ that nobody loved him, who felt alive only by stealing life from others.

But he also saw Shukaku as the animalistic creature it was. It wasn't all cold bloodlust and madness- there was burning rage, too, and the haunting longing of a beast in a cage.

His siblings knew that Shukaku increased activity during full moons- they knew when Gaara's eyes became crazed, when he came back to the village after leaving without telling anybody two days previous. When he came back with the sand in his gourd smelling even more of blood.

This had been true for all of his life; he'd always felt more touchy, more uneasy around the full moon. By the age of twelve or so, the lack of sleep and the pulse of demonic power combined with the scars of his early trauma had driven him nearly to true insanity. Then came the Chuunin exams and Shukaku was beaten. _He_ was beaten; learned for the first time what physical pain was, what it was like to bleed.

And Shukaku relented, a bit, withdrew to gather its power again after such a disastrous defeat by another of his kind. Gaara had used the opportunity to snatch a couple of the first hours of real sleep since the age of three. It was a short-lived luxury.

By the age of fourteen, Shukaku's influence during full moons began to take on a new tone, a new flavor, one that enflamed his body for several days and then left as the moon began waning. During that age, Kankurou was bullied by Temari into giving Gaara what he called "the Talk." He seemed to find it highly embarrassing and perhaps rather traumatizing.

Gaara found it informative, at least once he had separated the simple meaning from Kankurou's convoluted, avoidant phrasing. It explained several things rather nicely. Like, for instance, why he had some strange compulsion to actually look at other people during the days of Shukaku's activity.

It wasn't until he was fifteen that he learned one vital piece of information that either nobody had known or nobody had bothered to tell him.

Shukaku was female.

It seemed a rather impossible fact at first. Gaara's immediate reaction had been to want to go be sick somewhere. However, upon further consideration, it couldn't be that big a deal. Demonic possession was equally unpleasant, no matter what the _gender_ of said demon was. It was a fucking _demon_, for god's sake.

Gaara sat out on a roof one night, clouds partially blocking the nearly-full moon from view, letting the cool night air wash over his pale skin and steal the heat away, allowing him finally to be comfortable. Somewhere in an alley below, one of Suna's cats was meowing, loud, desperate, abrasive. He could see her, a scrawny gray tabby, rolling on the ground and panting as though to absorb the coolness into her body.

Gaara knew the feeling. Usually, though, it was when it was hot out, and the village was full of people. So it would only be hot air he would be breathing, and the people would probably think there was something wrong with him.

The cat meowled again. A ragged brown cat had approached her, sniffing, attracted by whatever hormone or pheremone she was emitting right now. She chased him off angrily when he sniffed at her tail, obviously not dubbing him good enough.

She was in heat. Gaara had read about that term some months ago in one of the books he'd checked out from Suna's civilian library. He'd long since finished with all the scrolls they'd let him near.

A fat black tom had ambled up now, boxing with the rejected cat a little as though to prove his superiority. 'In heat,' huh? So she was basically ready to have kittens, and was therefore making a nuisance of herself until one of the male cats claimed her.

Gaara wondered if she felt anything like he did now. He certainly wasn't going to roll in the streets and meow, but the frustration built through the three or four days of the full or mostly-full moon, built until he was quite ready to shred through his sanity and– do what?

She had deemed this male worthy, and now they were circling and rubbing and getting ready to do whatever it was cats did to make kittens. Gaara moved several rooftops away. He didn't need or want to see cats having sex in the streets.

It wasn't like he could just listen to Shukaku. No, he'd already seen where that had gotten him before, hadn't he? So he'd just sit out here at night and try to make the weird feelings and thoughts in the day go away. And if the sand sometimes liked to spill from his gourd when the moon was highest and slide up and down his body, trickling over his skin and making him shudder into its cool, inhuman touch, well, so be it.

He reflected that they really should get some of these cats fixed before they went into these ridiculous kitten-making plans. They were so fucking _loud_!

o.O.o.0.o.O.o

Gaara was on a diplomatic mission to Konoha. He'd wanted to send Temari as usual. Going on support missions to aid Konoha militarily was one thing, but going to meet with the Hokage? So what if a more formal treaty was long overdue? He didn't understand why that meant _he _had to go.

...So he _did_ understand, if he stopped denying it to himself. To send someone of lesser importance would be inviting any number of things to go wrong. It might be interpreted as impertinent; a lack of respect. Plus, they simply didn't have the authority to fulfill all the duties that might be required of them.

Thus, Gaara was heading out, alone. (_Somebody_ had to stay behind and keep an eye on the scheming village elders. In this case, 'somebody' was Temari and Kankurou.) The full moon was in about a week; with any luck it would be finished before then. He would be distracted during the full moon- not a good thing when conducting proceedings of this caliber.

The journey took three days traveling at a good pace, and Gaara resigned himself to disaster. It would take a miracle to get such a thing as a treaty being drawn up done in four days, and it was likely that he only had three days before Shukaku stirred. He doubted you could call for a break in proceedings by pleading that you were in heat and could not pay proper attention.

...He wouldn't say anything like that anyway. It would draw attention to the fact that he was a jinchuuriki, which was never a popular concept. Plus, imagine admitting a weakness like that. No, asking for a recess was not an option.

He arrived at the huge gates without fanfare- thank god. They were open, as usual. Konoha was so trusting. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye- a guard. Maybe not so trusting after all.

Two ANBU, cloaked and masked, appeared in front of him, probably from the top of the wall. They both gave the barest of bows; Gaara inclined his head in response. (Bowing with the load of his gourd was simply not a viable action.)

"We are to show you to the Hokage's office." one said stiffly.

The other one elbowed the first. "We bid you welcome to Konohagakure." He sounded more cheerful. "If you would please follow us, Kazekage-sama."

They led him around the village, following the winding streets to the Hokage's tower. People watched with curiosity as they passed, but only from some with long memories (and grudges) against Sand was there fear or antagonism. It was different from Suna, where even though he led them, the people were all nervous of him. They would never forget what he was. Of course, that might be because it was _their_ roofs he spent his nights on.

Konoha was much the same as it had been when he'd been here previously. The jumbled collection of buildings, the slew of wires and signs, the diverse people wandering around. It had changed enough that he didn't recognize exactly the placement of buildings and such, but then again, his memory could also be faulty, considering that he hadn't been here in a while.

"If you would please wait just a moment, we'll see if Hokage-sama is free." the more talkative of the two said. He moved toward the door to the office when it burst open, propelled by an irate blur of yellow and orange.

"FINE THEN! I'll do your stupid _C-class_ mission! But I swear, if you give me one more of these damn things, baa-chan-!" Naruto was yelling, as usual. He was also complaining. Also usual. Apparently the other jinchuuriki had not changed much.

"You'll do it, brat, and you'll like it, whether you want to or not!" a woman's voice roared. Gaara realized that he had never actually met the new Hokage, though he knew of her- Tsunade, one of the sannin.

"Yeah, righ– " Naruto had turned his head and caught sight of the three in the hall. He stopped moving rather abruptly. "Hey, baa-chan! You've got visitors!"

"I have what?!" she yelled. "I can't have visitors, damn it, the Kazekage's supposed to come today!" The woman, presumably Tsunade, appeared in the doorway. She showed no signs of surprise other than a slight widening of her eyes. "BRAT! You could have told me it _was_ the Kazekage, damn it!" She knocked Naruto over the head, which sent him crashing into the floor. Obviously the Hokage was not someone to mess with.

"It's just _Gaara_!" Naruto complained from the dent in the floor he was crawling out of. Gaara inwardly snorted in amusement. Naruto was probably one of the only people to ever say 'It's _just_ Gaara.' "It's not like he cares about propriety or crap!"

"..." Gaara thought that Naruto was assuming quite a lot, but since it was quite true, he would let it go. He hated the constraints of formal proceedings, almost as much as the half-terrified people trying to prove to him their necessity. Actually, he was already rather pleased with the informality of Konoha he'd seen thus far.

"'Propriety?' Come back when you've learned your damn vocabulary, kid! Try 'procedure!'"

"Whaa?" Naruto asked blankly.

Tsunade hit her face against her palm. "Find a dictionary, do your mission, Naruto. You're dismissed."

"Fine, fine. Hag." Naruto grumbled, dusting himself off.

"I heard that!"

"Long time no see, Gaara. Good luck with Baa-chan." The blonde waved jauntily at him before he passed. Gaara watched him go, bemused. The Hokage obviously had the strength to pound Naruto six ways from Sunday, yet he was never bothered, never intimidated. His ability to trust in others was one thing that Gaara could never imitate.

"I'm sorry about Naruto. Please, come in." Tsunade held the door aside.

"It's... not a problem." Gaara said stiffly. They were closed into the room, the ANBU members were closed out. Tsunade sat behind the desk, he on the other side. She laced her fingers together in front of her face and stared over them at him. Gaara stared back.

The proceedings had begun.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o

True to his prediction, it would have taken a miracle to get the entire treaty over with in three days' time. They did not have a miracle. Instead, they became hung up over a small issue of trade regulations that they could not agree on but Tsunade refused to simply ignore. By the fourth day, the draft treaty had been worked out and was ready to be submitted to Konoha's elders. By that same fourth day, the effects of the beginning of the full moon had begun.

It seemed worse than usual, but that was because he was actually forced to be near people. In Suna, the only two that presented a problem were Temari and Kankurou, but they had learned to leave him alone during the full moon. The rest of the people gave him a wide berth anyway.

In Suna, Gaara classified and assigned missions, but he did not hand any of them out personally. Here in Konoha, though, ninja were in and out receiving missions straight from the Hokage, and Gaara felt the consequences of Shukaku's attractions to their strength.

After the third interruption that afternoon, this time by three jounin who had either not understood the meaning of personal space or not realized how wide Gaara's 'bubble' was, the heat in his body was comparable to noon back in Suna, coolness of the room aside. He fought to ignore the signals running through him, but Tsunade had noticed anyway.

"Are you all right?" she asked after the door swung closed. Her assistant, Shizune, who was the room's other constant occupant, looked curiously at him as well.

Gaara shifted in his seat and tapped the papers on the desk, trying to direct the conversation back into more professional areas. They didn't have to know of Gaara's condition- it was bad enough without others being aware.

"You look flushed." Tsunade frowned at him, the way she had at a chuunin who had come back two days ago from a mission, still bloody. She leaned over the desk and reached a hand out for his forehead. Gaara flinched away, but the Hokage was not deterred. Her hand felt cool next to the 'ai' symbol, and his breath stopped in his throat. Her frown deepened. "You're feverish."

The green glow of her healing chakra fizzed against his skin, probably meant to reduce the temperature. It did anything but- the glimpse of her chakra had excited Shukaku; she was practically begging to be taken.

For the first time, Gaara was forced to admit that the genders of demons might indeed matter. Shukaku didn't seem to distinguish very well between human genders, either- otherwise perhaps she would realize that _he_ was male and therefore her vessel was not going to be 'taken' by a female. Not the way she wanted, anyhow.

Shizune came over as well then, and Gaara very nearly panicked. The jounin mixed with the power of a sannin... it was hard enough to control the urges as it was, even normally, back in Suna!

"I'm fine." he snapped, ducking away from the still green-glowing hand. "We can get this finished today if it's actually worked on."

Tsunade sat down heavily in her chair, eying him warily, and Shizune backed off. Gaara closed his eyes in half-meditation and tried to make Shukaku back off. The sand shifted and rolled in hsi gourd. He knew the Hokage could hear it- she was giving him her 'look,' the one that even to Gaara, uninitiated in interaction, said clearly 'I don't trust your affirmation of health.'

She didn't pursue it, though, to Gaara's great relief. The troublesome trade stipulation aside, which had been solved that morning, the treaty was finished. Tsunade said that they could look forward to at _least_ two days while the elders reviewed it (she mentioned it taking a miracle rather like the one Gaara had referenced for the entire trip) and wished him happy sightseeing around the village.

He left the Hokage's tower as the sun was setting, and headed in a straight line for the residence building he was staying at. He was glad the Hokage did not believe in keeping visitors in state; it wasn't like he was ever going to actually use a place to stay the night.

Gaara ended up on the roof as the stars began to come out, finally allowing himself to relax enough to- well, do the opposite. The frustration, the excitement, the rising heat, want, need of the day that he had pushed away, seeped back in until he was sure if anyone was out to see him, he would glow.

Arousal shortened his breath until he was panting, like the cats in the streets in Suna. Except his was a human body, even if the urges that prodded it into this state were animalistic. Shukaku's readiness to procreate (and there was a terrifying concept, demonic procreation) was not able to translate properly to the human body, especially the male one. Humans also had more ways out of the blinding need than an animal looking for a mate.

The sand that had been rustling for most of the day spilled out now and flowed over him in a cool torrent. The soft, scratchy familiarity of it soothed him; its touch against his skin used his arousal to turn his body into its plaything.

It slid around him, pooled under him, slipped under his clothes to rub against bare skin. To Gaara, the concept of 'sandpaper' was foreign- the sand was smooth as silk sliding along his body. It went under his pants and rippled along his erection in little waves.

Gaara arched, unable to bring his hand to bear where he needed it, but it was unnecessary- the sand squeezed and shivered against him and brushed ans stroked over him until it was too much and he came, gasping for air. The sand absorbed the splatterings of his come, tricking out of his clothes and back into the gourd. He was lowered back down to the roof, where he sat limply for a moment to restore his breathing to normal.

The tension was gone, for a while. But the heat was still there, still curling and coiling through his body. The nights were warm here, compared to Suna. The humidity trapped the heat of the day and made the relief of the night air less than what he needed.

Nevertheless, he sat and stared at the moon on a roof in Konoha through the too-warm night, letting Shukaku's raging needs become the energy to keep him awake.

o.O.o.0.o.O.o

Tsunade knew that the treaty works were putting her behind on her paperwork, but the piles that Shizune had been discreetly stacking behind her desk had become alarming. Damn that boy for being such a dedicated workaholic. It was like he didn't have any interest in finding other things to do!

...He had been acting oddly earlier that day, though. Tsunade reflected on this as she chewed on the pen she'd been marking forms with. He had been twitchy and even less relaxed than usual. (And considering that he seemed always stiffly formal, that was saying something.) He had definitely been warmer than he should have been, but a fever would never react to her chakra by _rising_. She was a top medical ninja, damn it, she did not screw up on a basic attempt to quell fever!

Which of course meant that it couldn't be fever. If she didn't know better, she would have classified it as... well, sexual tension. But that was just weird, and far too prolonged to be normal (or possibly ever healthy). On the other hand, Gaara _was_ a teenage boy, not just Kazekage and– a jinchuuriki. Hm. It was quite possible that that might have something to do with this. It merited further investigation.

CRASH. Her door slammed open, revealing a distinctly unwelcome orange-clad visitor. Naruto stomped over and slapped his mission report on top of the papers she was reviewing. Tsunade raised her eyes to meet his, then shot straight to glare level two of five. The only good thing about Naruto's mission reports was that they were short; the blonde didn't have the attention span for a proper report.

"What... exactly. Are you doing here?"

"Giving you the report, Tsunade-baa-chan. What does it look like?" Naruto griped.

"Who the hell let you in?!"

"Shizune-nee-chan, who else? She said you'd be up for a long time anyway. And its your own damn fault for sending me on that screwy mission! It– "

Tsunade cut him off before his rant could really start. "I don't care. I have far more work to do than I should, and I don't need your presence to do it."

"Wha-? You _always_ have too much work."

"Blame your damn workaholic redhead friend." Tsunade grumbled.

Naruto blinked. "Gaara?"

"Yes, Gaara. The one who doesn't sleep and therefore has some notion that the rest of us have the amount of _time_ he does but we don't because we _sleep_!" So she was ranting without dignity. So what. She was looking forward to the next three or four days and _sleep_.

"...You look like crap." Naruto sniggered.

"Fine then! _You_ look after him for the next couple days. Get out!"

"Okay, okay!" Naruto made his usual noisy way out.

Tsunade dropped her head to the desk on top of Naruto's mission report. Yes... sleep.

o.O.o.0.o.O.o

Gaara watched the sun rise and wondered what he was going to do with his next two or three days of misery. Perhaps he could go out in the forest and while most of his day away in a tree. It would keep Shukaku quieter than she would probably be in the village. Civilians weren't a problem- both Shukaku and Gaara were picky enough to reject most of them.

Shinobi, on the other hand, particularly powerful ones... Shukaku's demands became undeniably tempting.

The village was coming to life around him. Lights turned on (unnecessarily, he thought- the sun was more than bright enough to see by), curtains opened, and in a few exceptional circumstances, shops were being opened. This was one thing that was no different from Suna- the villages took a while to unfold from the compression of sleep.

It was about nine 'o clock by the sun when Gaara was forced to abandon the room as an acceptable place to remain during the day. It wasn't that the sun wasn't helping to decrease the heat of his body- Konoha's days were gentler than the desert's- but the appearance of several shinobi zipping past on adjoining rooftops. Gaara didn't want to chance being interrogated. The sand was restless enough as it was.

He ducked back in through the fire escape exit, the same way he'd come out the evening before. The sand kept the alarm sensor from going off, then returned to the gourd. Gaara's attention was kept from corking it properly back in, though.

This was mostly due to the fact that Naruto was banging cheerfully at his door.

o.O.o.0.o.O.o.0.o.O.o

A/N: ... Well, this was written as a one-shot, but got really long, and so turned into a two-shot. Typed up due to the fact that I _really_ don't want to write this English essay...

Yes, I know. No smut yet. Wait for the next bit. (cackles evilly)


	2. Chapter 2

Full Moons and Diplomats

**Warnings:** GRAPHIC YAOI SEX. I don't know how to make that clearer. If you are offended by this, then why are you here?! Shoo!

**Spellcheck of the Day**: Ichiraku: Accuracy

o.O.o.0.o.O.o.0.o.O.o

Naruto jumped when he finally sensed the presence that seemed to materialize behind him.

"Ah! Gaara!" The sand shinobi was standing there calmly, regarding Naruto with a mixture of calculation and confusion. Or at least it seemed that way. His eyes were as blank as they ever were when he wasn't, well, talking to the sand.

Wait. Wasn't it... Gaara's door... he was knocking on?

"What the- why are you out here? You're supposed to be in there!!" Naruto squawked.

Gaara quirked his head inquisitively. "I was on the roof."

"You- why were you on the roof?"

"... is there any point to spending the night in a bed?"

Naruto colored, remembering a bit belatedly Gaara's insomnia. Stupid, stupid, stupid! And after Tsunade had just reminded him the night before!

Luckily, he was Uzumaki Naruto, and Uzumaki Naruto did not care about little things like social blunders. "Oh. Right."

"Is there any particular reason you're here?"

"Well... I wanted to see if you'd like to do anything."

"...Not really."

"Aww, come on. You can't just sit here all day!"

Gaara's gaze told him that yes, he could.

"Don't tell me you were actually planning on it!"

"_Actually_, I was planning on sitting in a tree."

Naruto stared, flabbergasted. This boy seriously needed to learn how to actually enjoy himself. "No. Come on. There's a market today. It's gonna be fun! You can't miss it!"

Gaara's eyes widened fractionally at him, almost apprehensive. Probably at the thought of that much fun. Psh. Party pooper.

"Well, come on!"

The redhead didn't move.

Naruto rolled his eyes and grabbed the Kazekage's thin wrist. The sudden shock of heat that ran through him was unexpected, but he supposed it had to do with Gaara being another jinchuuriki.

Gaara let himself be dragged until they got to the top of the stairs, then twisted out of Naruto's grasp. Naruto glanced behind him briefly as he half-skipped down the stairs; the boy was indeed still following him, though taking the stairs much slower. Naruto jumped down the last few stairs and landed with a thump, then turned to watch impatiently. Could he _go_ any slower? Weren't they supposed to be _ninja_?

It did give him a chance to observe that for once, Gaara looked slightly less than perfectly groomed. His hair was messier than usual, his clothes rumpled (probably from spending the night outside) and the lines around his eyes seemed somehow more pronounced.

Naruto snapped his eyes away when Gaara made it to the bottom of the stairs and turned that unnerving gaze on him. Oh, crap. Had he been staring? Then again, not like that was unusual for him.

Naruto lead the way (read; bounced his way) out of the building and through a maze of alleyways. Gaara kept drifting closer and then dropping back sharply. Naruto wondered if that was how he always spaced himself when he was walking with somebody. It seemed kind of odd, as far as Naruto was concerned. He didn't fall behind people unless he got distracted by something.

...Okay, so he fell behind all the time. But he always hurried to catch up, rather than seeming to _try_ to put distance between him and his companion.

Augh. Too much thinking. Over-analyzation caused Naruto's brain to shut down.

They entered the first street that showed signs of the market; shops had set up stalls next to their doors to display their special wares. Naruto stared around him, even though this was a monthly market- with everything on sale, it was a perfect opportunity for a thrift-minded shinobi like himself. As people began shoving past them, Gaara was suddenly nearly attached to Naruto's elbow. The blonde could practically feel his dark glower at the crowds without even turning to look.

Naruto stopped to look at a book display, but snorted in derision when he caught sight of the newest Icha Icha book in the second most prominent place. Konoha really was full of perverts.

"What?" Gaara's quiet question caught him off guard.

"Oh, um... er, nothing." Naruto was fairly certain that Gaara did not know of things such as Icha Icha, permanent sex-hair or no. He hurried past the books. They turned a corner and were confronted by the craft alley, which was even more crowded than the last. Gaara was suddenly _actually_ attached to his elbow.

Heat surged through him at Gaara's touch, then receded into a nagging, growing need. Gaara's hand was fisted in his sleeve almost like an insecure child, his uneven, nervous breath brushing over Naruto's neck. What the hell was wrong with him? It felt like he was reacting to something- the Sand nin's closeness? But why?

It only got worse through the hour or so they spent wandering through the market. Gaara seemed twitchy as well- not the way he had been when Naruto had first met him, but something was obviously bothering him.

They reached the edge of the market, where the people began to thin out. Instead of relaxing (Naruto had figured that the nervousness he sensed was from the press of people in the maze of the market) Gaara actually seemed to tense more. He drew away abruptly.

Huh. Well, if this day wasn't turning out weird, Naruto didn't know what _was_ weird. He looked sideways at the young Kage. Gaara was flushed, drawn in on himself. If he listened, Naruto could hear the sand in the gourd moving. Was Gaara sick? Distressed?

...More importantly, was there actually anything he could do about it? Probably not. So... subject change!

"Hey, I know what we can do! Let's go to Ichiraku's! Have you been there?"

Gaara shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"You have to try it!" Naruto bounced off, checked that Gaara was following, then wove his way towards Ichiraku Ramen. Even if he did get a little direction confused every now and then, if there was one navigation skill Naruto was proud of, it was the knowledge of the fastest route to Ichiraku's from _any_ place in Konoha.

"Hello, Naruto!" the man at Ichiraku's greeted them as Naruto ducked under the flaps, Gaara following much more hesitantly. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Gaara!"

"Nice to meet you."

Gaara nodded in reply.

"Now, what'll you be having today?"

"Mmmm... dunno. What d'you like, Gaara?"

The redhead looked at him blankly. "I haven't tried this before."

"Oh, right... Miso then! You can never go wrong with the basics." Naruto cheered. "Two miso ramen, please!"

"Coming right up!"

When two steaming bowls of ramen were set in front of them, Naruto was so excited he promptly forgot about the surrounding world. It was a common symptom of his ramen-mania. He pulled the chopsticks apart with an evil chuckle and an 'Itadakimasu!'

It wasn't until halfway through slurping up the beautiful noodly joy that he got distracted by watching Gaara. The redhead was going much slower than _anyone_ Naruto had ever seen eating ramen. Obviously he had no education in the art. Then again... it was almost art, the way he was going about it.

He'd wrap the noodles around the chopsticks and place it in his mouth carefully, then take a bite of vegetable from the toppings. Naruto arrived at two conclusions.

One: Gaara ate more daintily than a _girl_.

Two: It was really fucking sexy.

Wait. Shock. Where the hell had that second conclusion come from? Continue eating, pretend it hadn't occurred to him. Naruto finished his ramen at his usual nausea-inducing speed and held up his chopsticks.

"Seconds, please!"

"Of course!" More noodles were added to the broth in his bowl. Gaara was giving him an odd look. Naruto was slightly unnerved by the unreadableness of the pale green eyes, but he shrugged it off as he always did. Gaara was just hard to interpret.

Then one of the noodles slipped off Gaara's chopsticks, and he looked like it had committed a personal offense. Naruto nearly choked to keep from laughing- until Gaara glared at him. Then he really did burst out laughing. He wasn't quite sure what was so funny- it might be that it was _Gaara_, jinchuuriki and Kazekage, getting flustered over a noodle.

"You kill the entire ramen-eating process." Naruto finally commented after his third bowl. Gaara looked over the rim of the bowl- he was drinking the broth- then set it down.

"How so?"

"Well, for one, you've- god, you've left half your noodles in there! What are you, anorexic?"

Gaara shrugged. "Food is less abundant in Suna." he explained.

Psh. Well, no wonder he was so thin. You couldn't tell just looking at him, due to the bulk of the gourd and loose clothing, but his wrist had been so thin in Naruto's grasp; delicate, like you could snap it just like that.

Except for the fact that if you tried that, the sand would pry you off him and probably crush your arm (if not all of you) for the offense.

Naruto shivered, realizing that he was examining Gaara's body as the boy swirled his chopsticks in the food he plainly was not planning to eat any more of. The way the sash of the gourd hugged along his torso, the bend of his neck as he hunched over the counter just a bit. The way the pale skin shifted as he moved on his seat.

What. The. Hell.

The deep rumble of Kyuubi surprised him. The demon didn't often try to stir from its prison, but now it was thrashing, intent on something. Gaara. Green eyes glanced over to him, wide, then flashed away, a sudden hitch in his breathing. Naruto felt Kyuubi's influence beginning to flood him, and tried to fight it back. What was up with that? Kyuubi had only ever come out before in times of life-threatening situations.

Naruto quickly paid for their meal and thanked the owner. Gaara followed him, meticulously keeping a three-foot distance between them. Naruto didn't know whether to be frustrated or grateful for this; he wanted to reach out and grab that wrist again, to feel the delicate skin and bones underneath, to follow it up and find more of the soft skin, to find out if it would be as easy to bruise that slim throat as it looked like it would, and if the sand would let him.

'What is this?!' he raged at Kyuubi. The creature rarely answered him if he talked to it, and when it did, the tone was always aggravated or condescending. Never low and heated as it was when it replied,

'_He's in heat. He's just begging for us to take him. What the fuck are you waiting for?'_

Naruto was shocked speechless. Kyuubi also never cursed like that. 'In heat?' What was that supposed to mean?

And when had they wound up at the entrance to his apartment?

"So... ah... is there anything else you wanna see for the day?"

Gaara shrugged. "I should stop bothering you. I can find my way back."

"You're not just gonna go back and sit on your own, are you? Come on in." Naruto huffed. "Come in, we can hang out or play a board game or something." He dutifully ignored Kyuubi's whispers.

"No, no, really." Gaara's eyes were wide, with a touch of the glassy look they acquired whenever he had turned scary in the past.

"I can't just leave you alone all day!" Naruto protested, catching hold of Gaara's wrist again as he turned to go.

Bad move. The same heat he'd felt on contact before was there, but now the raging compressed fire of Kyuubi's chakra flooded through his veins and obliterated any remnants of his common sense that had been arguing against Kyuubi's suggestion to jump Gaara.

o.O.o.0.o.O.o

Shock paralyzed Gaara's system for a moment when Naruto grabbed his wrist- the blonde's hand was like a little furnace sending spears of heat through his body. No no no no, no touching, he couldn't bear touching right now after being _so close_ all day, he was going to lose control soon and how embarrassing would _that_ be?

Then he was spun around, obviously heading for a collision with the wall behind him; the sand exploded from the gourd to slow and cushion until the actual impact was just a tap and the sand slid away so he could feel the scratch of brick reverberating through the gourd.

It took him a moment to process that it was _Naruto_ who had twirled him into a wall, a moment that occupied all the muddled time he had before lips descended on his. His eyes flew up to meet the violently red, slitted eyes currently narrowed at him.

Naruto's tongue found its way easily into his mouth, hot and wet and invading. Touch alone overwhelmed Gaara; he had no idea how to deal with this. His wrist was still being help pinned to his side; he used his other hand to cling to Naruto's shirt sleeve, whatever words he was trying to say coming out as incoherent moaning that merely caused Naruto's mouth to move more decisively over his.

Friction took the heat that his body was already consumed by and pooled it between his legs. Gaara trembled with the intensity of the feeling. This was more than just the sand willing to touch him, this was not just his body's frustrations realizing themselves as arousal. There was somebody touching him, somebody close to him, reacting to him, _kissing_ him. Not just his sibling's hesitant touches, not just the nervous brushes or clueless caresses of those who didn't recognize his condition.

Naruto's free hand came up, tangling in his hair, tilting his head to the side to open a wider pathway. His tongue coaxed Gaara's into reaction, even if Gaara was still too lost, too overwhelmed to control it himself.

Finally Naruto broke the kiss, and Gaara choked on the air he so desperately needed. His fist tightened in Naruto's shirt as he coughed, trying to get control of his body again. It was all such a very new experience.

"Are you okay? Hey!" Naruto's voice was worried; when Gaara finally gained the air to stop spasming and look up, his eyes were blue again, just a hint of the slit pupil and the darkened whisker marks remaining. "Are you all right?"

Gaara nodded.

"Then... is it okay if I do that again?"

He groaned. "Oh, fuck yes." He didn't usually curse, but the predatory smile that lit up the blonde's face was worth it.

Naruto tugged him through the door of the building, but they only made it up one flight of stairs before Naruto was kissing him again, pressing him against the railing so he would have been bent over it if not for the gourd. Gaara was half-hard and aching the sand swirling around his feet and up his legs, but it seemed to sense that he didn't want its attention right now.

Gaara had recovered enough of his wits to return the favor, unable to wait longer than halfway up the next flight of stairs. They pressed together as Naruto bent over the railing, hardness meeting hardness through their clothes, and Gaara didn't know how they were going to last until they got to wherever they were going.

Naruto pounced again halfway down the third-floor hall, fingers working at something on his chest just as furiously as his mouth was working against Gaara's. The gourd slid to the ground with a thump and Gaara slid through a cushion of sand until he was pressed against the wall. Naruto's hands were fiddling with his pans and even though he knew he ought to care because they were still in the hall, he didn't, not with the blonde sucking his tongue into his mouth and rubbing against it. He bucked against the half touch and Naruto growled into the kiss.

A door banged open next to them, startling Naruto away from him. Gaara whined softly and tightened his grip on Naruto's sleeves; he didn't think he could bear it if contact was cut off. He barely processed an old man staring wide-eyed at them before Naruto's body pressed him against the wall and kissed him again, growling in a vaguely possessive way. The door was shut as suddenly as it had opened.

"Jerk." Naruto glared at the door. He dragged Gaara by the hand this time, up one more flight of stairs, Gaara dragging the gourd behind him. He wasn't quite sure where they were going until Naruto pressed him up against a door, nipping at Gaara's lip in a way that made him melt.

The door flew open behind him, and only the sand prevented the sudden fall, cushioning them onto the floor with Naruto on top of him. Naruto pushed his shirt up with no consideration for the open door- the sand pushed it closed with a click.

Then Naruto's tongue ran from his navel up to his nipple, and Gaara arched and cried out as though he'd been hit. The line of Naruto's tongue felt like it had been set on fire, driving all reason from his head and leaving only the blind need. The sand swirled around them both, its caress against his skin cool, familiar, soothing.

On Naruto, though, it was the opposite effect, if the violent shudder and moans were any indication.

"Ah, gods..." he groaned, arching against the sand's touch and into Gaara. Gaara writhed under the pressure- he was too close to take this much more, finally getting what he'd been trying not to want all day.

Naruto was tugging his pants down, leaving Gaara momentarily feeling extremely exposed. The sand always seeped into his clothes; he had never actually been undressed when aroused. Naruto's mouth engulfing him in slick, wet heat drove any mental discomfort away immediately.

"Nnn–ahh!" Sensation concentrated in his groin, drawing up tight and flaring as the blonde's tongue flickered uncertainly around his shaft. Gaara thrust up instinctively, felt Naruto's throat clenching around him for one elongated moment, then he was pushed back down, a keening sound coming from his throat at being denied release. The fingerprint ridges of Naruto's thumb against the tip of his cock caught him between pleasure and pain, it was so intense. Gaara arched almost impossibly, breath laboring, trembling. So, so, close... Naruto's fist wrapped around his cock, slid up and down once, and squeezed. Gaara's voice was frozen even as his mouth opened in a silent scream, ecstasy hung immobile for what seemed forever but was over much too soon. Semen splattered both of them, warm and stick and for once not simply absorbed by the sand .

Shukaku thrashed in his mind, her heat spreading immediately through his body, unsatisfied. Naruto's skin was hot against his, his blue eyes slit pupilled and darkened with lust still.

Clothes were lost on the way to the bed, tossed indiscriminately into corners of the small room. They didn't actually make ti to the bed, skin against skin and Shukaku's heat bringing Gaara to arousal again. They ended up on a tangle of the blankets and sand, Naruto's hands roaming across Gaara's body and seeming to light every place he touched, kissing him again, roughly; there were fangs in his mouth now, and they pricked Gaara's tongue and he moaned into the kiss, the taste of his own blood making him go harder, pressed against Naruto.

Naruto put two fingers in his mouth, then slid them, ticking past his balls, and pushed one _into_ him. Then another, and his body was reacting to the touch in a way Gaara hadn't known it should, making him whimper and raise his hips and ask for more. Naruto's grin was feral, and somehow in the midst of the daze and the arousal hot and insistent between his legs, Gaara knew that this was why Naruto reacted when nobody else did, the strange workings of the sealed demons, and Kyuubi wanted Shukaku as much as Shukaku wanted- well, anybody, but with Kyuubi she actually submitted.

Ponderings of demonic possession were blasted away; Gaara arched into the taut body above him, stunned he hadn't come, the feeling was so intense, but then it was gone.

"Ahh, again, Na -- " He wasn't quite sure what gibberish he was trying to communicate, but fingertips reached _there _again- "Aaah! Oh gods-" how could he not have come? The arousal coiled tighter, his length throbbing where it rubbed lightly against Naruto's stomach. This was different from anything before, this was _more_.

Searing pain- oh gods what? he wasn't ready!- but Naruto could not wait, and neither could Gaara's body, once again reacting to the unfamiliar sensation of pain in a way he would not expect it to, slamming back to meet him.

"Oh- nng, fucking hell..." Naruto lay against Gaara, apparently trying to control himself- Gaara felt no such compulsion, and undulated to rub himself as much as he could against the blonde. This prompted a strangled moan from Naruto, and then Gaara could feel the burning friction as he began to move.

That sensation again- he couldn't even try to analyze, to describe it, just feel it, the pleasure so intense it sent him driving back to find more, to meet the next thrust and _again_... Ragged moans escalated, his body tightening and contracting into one mass of feeling. The pace increased, seeming to stay inside longer, little brushes of bright, fleeting pleasure that made him twitch each time, pressing back, longing for, needing release.

"Gah- gaara!" His name in Naruto's voice, Naruto snapping into him one last time and flooding his insides hot and slick and the sand flowed and swirled its silky touch around him just enough to push him finally over that edge. He came harder than he ever had, blanking out and arching, Naruto's name indistinct in the scream.

He came back down to Naruto's eyes still red, still gazing at him both as a predator and possessor. His body was still afire, completely oversensitized, somehow- inexplicably- wanting more.

Shukaku raged, her need unfulfilled- of course. Gaara, unlike the cats back in Suna, could not bear kittens. Her fertility was not being used and therefore could not abate, but for once, Gaara could not complain.

o.O.o.0.o.O.o

Kyuubi would not abate. Passion, need, possession froze him. He still wanted Gaara (right after he'd come?!), but what if he hurt him? Had already hurt him? Desire pulsed from behind Kyuubi's gate. What the hell had set Kyuubi off as the instigator of this whole thing, anyway?

Gaara growled, low, moving himself against Naruto as his sand scurried across Naruto's back, over his chest and thighs and each little grain a spark of chakra that sent his flaring into overdrive. Naruto groaned as he felt himself begin to harden again inside Gaara. The redhead's only response was to rock onto him, making Naruto half-close his eyes in pleasure at the sensations to his half-hardened cock.

He pushed his hips forward experimentally. Gaara moaned and arched into him. Naruto could _feel_ him growing hard, the hot silky stiffness rubbing through the mess of cum already there. He tightened on naruto as well, drawing him easily to full erection again. Naruto pulled up and thrust, sliding on his own previous cum. Gaara leaned up and kissed him open-mouthed, inviting him to taste and battle- Gaara's tongue moved against his and his mouth seemed to radiate heat.

"Aaahnnn-nn!" Gaara had shifted again to pursue the kiss, and the twist of him around Naruto's cock was too much to handle- he began the rhythm of thrusts without breaking the kiss, letting his hands, which had been distracted with holding himself up last time, wander over the pale, flushed body beneath him, caressing the sides and massaging the shoulders and brushing his fingers across the nipples- this last one startled a cry from Gaara and a pistioning of hips against his, hurried, desperate.

Naruto sped up on instinct, hands latching onto Gaara's slim hips as the other boy's fingernails dug into his arms, writhing against him. Heat flashed through his system- the sand swirling around them again. He could feel himself beginning to pulse, on the edge. Gaara swelled against him, and came, shuddering, clenching onto Naruto, gripping all the length of his cock, his yell coherent this time- a flash of diamond-star yellow in a plane of black in his eyes. Naruto managed two more hard thrusts before he came as well, the concentration of heat exploding into the fragments of his consciousness for a moment.

They lay for a moment before Naruto pulled out carefully, Gaara's hands limp on his arms, which each bore the five half-moon marks of Gaara's nails. Gaara sat on the bed while Naruto went for towels to clean themselves up a little- but by the time he got back, he could feel already by Kyuubi's tug that they weren't going to get clean.

Why was Kyuubi responding to this, creating irrational _need_ where there had been before simply vague want? Yellow diamond on black flashed in his memory. Of course. Shukaku must have something to do with this.

Green eyes glittered at him from within the prison lines of black.

o.O.o.0.o.O.o

Today was complaint day. Tsunade hated it, even to the point where she would welcome that the treaty talks were to resume today. After all, with that as an excuse, maybe she could get rid of some of the more useless and inane of the complaints. She only hoped the Kazekage would be forgiving of the unavoidable interruptions. He had seemed pretty all right with it before .

The elders had had their grubby little old hands on the treaty for nearly four days before they god back to Tsunade. She was almost caught up on her work. _Almost_. She had chosen to get totally caught up on sleep instead.

Another civilian had banged through her door and was, surprise surprise, complaining. Tsunade wished Shizune would screen these people more rigorously. Honestly, you did not need to come to the _Hokage_ for things like _this_!

"And you have to do something about these ninja brats, making out and feeling each other up next to people's doors, absolutely no shame at all... It's that Naruto kid, that's who it is, him and that little– "

Gaara's quiet knock preceded the door creaking open.

"Ah! Kazekage-sama!" Tsunade exclaimed. The old man stared at the redhead, became very pale, and suddenly left.

Huh. Well, hello, good fortune, Tsunade though. Thy name is somehow... Gaara.

o.O.o.0.o.O.o.0.o.O.o

A/N: Well. It's finished. No, I'm sorry, there will not be any more. It's a two-shot and that's that. I'm lazy, and that's all the inspiration I have for this.

The main thing was my annoyance with the fact that Kyuubi is always used in heat, but never Shukaku. Oh, and the ever-disturbing concept of demonic gender, because only females go into heat. (I hate when that fact is ignored.)

Happy readings. Hope you enjoyed it!


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